Father's Day at the Zoo...

Friday, June 25, 2010 by Amy

...without the father!  We promised the girls that we would take them to the zoo on Mother's Day, but I wasn't feeling well that day, so we postponed it.  Then the girls asked if we could go to the zoo on Father's Day, and we agreed.  Then, Rudi woke up on Father's Day not feeling well, so we decided that I would take the kids to the zoo myself so that he could rest in peace and quiet.
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Swimming Level 3

by Amy

Riley passed level 3 swimming lessons!  She is so darn proud of herself, and so am I!  She really rose to the occasion in this class, because it was not easy!  There's a big jump in skill requirements between Level 2 and Level 3.  I mean, they were starting to teach the butterfly for heaven's sake!  The girl was barely above the water the whole time.  While waiting her turn with the teacher, she was diving to the bottom, practicing floats, etc.  She loves the water.  I think that Riley has found her "thing."  Oh, and the grin from ear to ear when she comes out of the water exclaiming "I LOVE swimming!!"  Finally.
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Riley

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 by Amy

Ugh, what is there to say about Riley?  She got her comeuppance today, that's for sure.

Yesterday we made plans to go to the sprayground today and I asked her if she wanted to invite Matthew and Julia (siblings).  She was thrilled.  So, I spoke to their mother and made arrangements to fit everyone in our car, spoke about time, etc.  All was set.

Fast forward to this morning.  Riley decided arbitrarily that she does not want Julia to come.  I told her that she was already invited and that uninviting her would be rude and hurtful.
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Random Stuff (Again)

Friday, June 18, 2010 by Amy

Well, some things....Riley is doing phenomenally in swim class.  I have a video somewhere, but I'll have to find it.  She is actually SWIMMING!!  At first she swam a sloppy freestyle and could go about 20 feet, which was as far as she could go without running into another class.  Who knows how far she could have gone?  Now her teacher is fine-tuning her strokes, so she's slowing down her crawl and can sustain herself for about 10 feet, she's concentrating so much on technique, not speed.  Once she gets the strokes down, speeds up, and can maintain her momentum, she'll be going far again.  However, I am not totally sure she'll pass this class the first time.  No biggie.  She is awesome at the front float, freestyle, and diving for rings, but she has great difficulty with anything on her back.  Not that I blame her!

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Reflections on the Camping Trip

by Amy

All in all, we did really well financially on this trip.  We brought our own food and other than a stop for dinner on the way there, managed to eat it alone.  I bought some meat before leaving, but it in a bag with marinade, and froze it.  The meat kept everything else cold, and when it thawed out we were ready to eat it, and the meat that we weren't ready to eat stayed refrigerator-cold long enough for us to use it.  The girls loved the camp-cooked food and asked that I cook on the green stove at home too.  Funny kids.
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Spruce Tree House

by Amy

Information here: http://www.nps.gov/archive/meve/cliff_dwellings/spruce_tree_house_home.htm

We tried to see Spruce Tree House on the same day we did the Petroglyph Point hike, but alas, they were closed :(  We had pretty much decided that we weren't going to be able to go, but then our other plans had fallen through (we intended on going to the Four Corners, but the monument is only open F-Su) and Rudi and I mentioned how the Spruce Tree House had a reconstructed kiva (with roof and ladder) and the girls really really really wanted to go into the kiva!
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Chaco Canyon: Chetro Ketl

by Amy

Information here: http://www.nps.gov/chcu/planyourvisit/chetro-ketl.htm

Chetro Ketl was located just a (normally) short walk from Pueblo Bonito, but a new trail was "curing" (whatever that means) and there was a long detour.  Oh well, we were already hot and sunburned by that point, what's a little more?  There were petroglyphs to see between Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito that were interesting.  The think I like about Chaco is that all the dwellings are open and you can walk all through them.  They just ask that you not climb the walls.  Duh.
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Chaco Canyon: Pueblo Bonito

by Amy

Wow, I kind of pooped out there on the vacation pictures, didn't I?  Well, here's more...

Info here: http://www.nps.gov/chcu/planyourvisit/pueblo-bonito.htm

We drove hours into northwest New Mexico to see Chaco Canyon. It's a must-see in the area, and we couldn't pass it up! Pueblo Bonito is the most famous Anasazi settlement in North America, the one you see in all documentaries on the subject. The drive was not very fun at all, though. First, Rudi severely underestimated the distance, as usual! Further, the road turned to a rough unpaved road about 16 miles outside of Chaco. It's the kind of place where if your car breaks down, they'll find your dried skeletons months later LOL.
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Mesa Top Sites

Saturday, June 12, 2010 by Amy

There are over 4000 archaeological sites in Mesa Verde. Only a few are open to the public, so many are visible from the road or on short walks. The Mesa Top loop offered views of several cliff houses. Way cool. I mean, we couldn't even get pictures of them all, or even find them all. This is called the best view in Mesa Verde, as so much could be seen from this overlook.
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Petroglyph Point

by Amy

After going to Cliff Palace, we decided to take a hike to Petroglyph Point. Petroglyphs and pictographs were top of Rudi's list. Well, it turned out that the hike was more than we bargained for! The trail information states that there is a 100 foot elevation gain, but what is doesn't say is that you gain, lose, and re-gain those 100 feet over and over again. That trail was so up and down! There were stone stairs, narrow passageways, and just a plain old rocky path.
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Balcony House

by Amy

History here: http://www.nps.gov/archive/meve/cliff_dwellings/balcony_house_home.htm

Balcony House was an absolute no-go for Rudi and Avery, so Riley and I had a go at it just the two of us. One of the ladders was 60 ft, and there were two more that were shorter. There was also a tunnel to crawl through that was quite a tight fit.
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Cliff Palace

by Amy

An overlook of Cliff Palace. It's so huge that you can't get super-good pictures up close:

The girls both wanted to pose for pictures on the fence. Don't know why, but I'm always happy to oblige! We were on the way to meet the ranger for the tour.

Ha! Got a picture without any people in it! Score!:


The girls needed some sort of covering for their heads, it was so hot. Sun hats were super-expensive at the gift shop so they both got bandanas. They loved them!





Listening intently to the ranger's presentation:


The original wall paintings in one of the towers.


The girls kept wanting me to take pictures of them rather than the cliff dwellings!

Riley examining one of the kivas:

Climbing out via ladder:



History of Cliff Palace here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Palace

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America! Quite a sight! You have to have a ranger-led tour and tickets cost $3 each. Not too shabby. We got up there and the ranger starts giving the beginning lecture and Rudi chickens out because of the height. Avery and Riley and I had a grand old time on our own, although Avery was a bit nervous about the ladder coming out. The amazing thing is that although the Anasazi used ladders to enter and exit the kivas (they originally had roofs) they did not use ladders to access the cliff dwellings themselves. They carved hand and toe holds from the cliffs and climbed! I have pictures later that show the original hand and toe holds. Craziness!

It's hard to tell from the photographs, but the rooms go WAY back into the cliff. Each dwelling had a reliable seep spring in the back so the ancient puebloans would have daily access to water. This is cited as a major reason that they moved from pithouses on the tops of the mesas where they originally lived, to the cliff dwellings.

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On the Way to Mesa Verde!

by Amy

Our drive down there was uneventful, although it seems like Rudi has to make a dozen stops before even leaving town! Argh. When I'm on the road I like to hurry up and get on the road! We managed to pack quite a bit of food to keep us going the whole trip. The drive took about 7 hours, not including stopping for dinner.

We got to the campground in time to set up the tent before nightfall. Rudi and I make a good tent-erecting team. The tent is quite nice and we're both happy with it. It is big enough inside to fit a queen-size mattress, plus a twin (which is good because that's what we have LOL!) and still a little room left for clothes and stuff. It has a large vestibule which helped a lot. It kept things out of the sun and such without having to put it in the car.

What I could have done without was the enormous spider in my shoe the first morning. I mean ENORMOUS! I tapped out my shoes, them put them on and felt something funny in the left one. I took it off and shook it out again and nothing. I still felt something when I put it on again, so I tapped it out again and this time a huge spider tumbled out. It was fine, I was fine, but I learned a lesson: bring your shoes inside the tent! The spider was seriously as big as a Halloween spider ring. I took a picture because I was sure Rudi would think I was exaggerating. I needed proof:


The people in the campground across from us has the same tent we did. They did practice runs and theirs was tighter than ours. We decided that the tethers and such weren't needed, so ours was wrinkly (probably from our ball-up and stuff method of putting tents away!)

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